xTool Screen Printer Accelerates Screen Printing With Laser Engraving

Screen printing is a centuries-old technique that is appreciated by artists and hobbyists alike. Famous pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein used screen printing to create and reproduce their unique works. Warhol’s famous “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn”, for example, was screen-printed and sold at auction for $195 million. However, the technique Warhol used for this work can also be easily practiced at home. Although traditional screen printing involves a great deal of effort and takes a long time, there are now inexpensive devices that counteract this problem. xTool, for example, has a screen printer in its range that considerably speeds up screen printing by integrating laser engraving.

Traditional screen printing is a form of direct printing in which ink is applied to various materials and surfaces. The print results are abrasion-resistant and weatherproof and therefore last for many years. But stencils must be produced beforehand so that the motifs can be applied. This is achieved by stretching a screen-printing mesh (screen for short) in a frame and applying a water-soluble coating. A photo positive of the motif is then placed on the mesh and exposed to light to transfer it to the screen. The light makes the coating waterproof, and it only stays water-soluble where the motif had covered the screen.

Traditional screen printing takes several days.

This screen stencil can then be stretched over the desired material and the motif is printed onto the undersurface by applying ink. This process involves several phases of washing and drying and is very time-consuming overall. xTool wants to simplify screen printing and, above all, make it faster and more efficient. To this end, the company has developed a screen printer that creates the stencils using laser engraving.